>From: Doug Skrecky <oberon@vcn.bc.ca> >To: extropians-digest@extropy.com >Subject: BMI and mortality in the aged >Reply-To: extropians@extropy.com >Date: Wednesday, August 25, 1999 8:02 PM > >Chubby old people seem to do well in the longevity sweapstakes. >This seems to fit in with other research which associates risk factors >such as low cardioresipratory fitness, and high blood pressure as being >responsible for higher mortality in young people at either end of the BMI >scale. These would tend to die early, yielding mostly survivors that are >relatively healthy regardless of BMI. > The "U" or "J" relation found in most studies relating human mortality >with body weight, thus tends to naturally flatten out at progressively >older ages. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > >Authors > Allison DB. Gallagher D. Heo M. Pi-Sunyer FX. Heymsfield SB. >Institution > Obesity Research Center, St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital Center, Columbia > University College of Physicians & Surgeons, NY 10025, USA. >Title > Body mass index and > all-cause mortality among people age 70 and over: the > Longitudinal Study of Aging. >Source > International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders. > 21(6):424-31, 1997 Jun. >Abstract > OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between body > mass index (BMI; kg/m2) and > mortality in a large nationally representative sample of US > adults over age 70 years. DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal cohort study, the > Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA). Subjects were all those 7260 black and > white people (2769 men, 4491 women) initially interviewed in 1984 for whom > height and weight were available. These subjects were followed through to > 1990. MEASUREMENTS: Measurements included self-reported height and weight, > date of death if subjects died, sex, age, race, measures of socio-economic > status, number of living first degree relatives, and responses to questions > asking whether the subject had retired due to poor health, had difficulty > eating, worried about their health, and felt their health was worse than > during the prior year. Smoking status was not assessed. RESULTS: When > analyzed via Cox proportional hazard regression, the relationship between BMI > and mortality, represented by means of hazard ratio, was > clearly U-shaped for both men and women. The base of the curves was fairly > wide suggesting that a broad range of BMIs are well tolerated by older > adults. The minimum mortality (estimated from the fitted > proportional hazard models) occurred at a BMI of approximately 31.7 for women > and 28.8 for men. The results were essentially unchanged, if analyses were > weighted, if various disease states were controlled for, and if apparently > unhealthy subjects were excluded. CONCLUSIONS: The finding of the relatively > high BMI (27-30 for men, 30-35 for women) associated with minimum hazard in > persons older than seventy years supports some previously documented findings > and opposes others and, if confirmed in future research, has implications for > public health and clinical recommendations. > > >